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Hey Southern Illinois: Chicago crime? It's all your fault!

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Guest YASLIFF

Guest YASLIFF

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Chicago lawmaker: Downstate colleagues encourage crime

 

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 5:57 PM CDT

 

By Kevin McDermott

kevin.mcdermott@lee.net

 

SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois House erupted in an angry confrontation over regionalism and race Wednesday, after a legislator from Chicago accused downstate lawmakers of wanting to stoke urban crime to make sure rural prisons don’t close.

 

“There are some people in the Illinois General Assembly who have prisons in their district, and their whole objective is to keep them filled,” Rep. Monique Davis, D-Chicago, alleged in a morning committee hearing. She was referring to several downstate lawmakers from prison districts who were opposing a bill that would make it easier for ex-convicts to get business loans.

 

“‘We got to have those prisoners. They’ve got to come down here from Chicago,”‘ Davis said in the committee, summarizing what she alleged is the attitude of downstate legislators. “. . . ‘We no longer plant corn, we no longer have farms, we don’t raise cows and pigs, we keep prisoners.”’

 

She added: “They don’t want to stop crime because (that would stop) their livelihood. ... It is sad when your whole economy is based upon imprisonment of Americans.”

 

The comments infuriated downstate lawmakers.

 

“We want people to go to prisons because they committed crimes, not because we want to pump up the economy of Vandalia,” said Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Highland, whose district encompasses or is near state prisons at Hillsboro, Vandalia and Centralia. “That’s a criminal insult.”

 

They also alleged Davis’ comments injected racial politics into the debate, something Davis vehemently denied. Davis is black, and Stephens and other downstate lawmakers from prison districts who debated her on the issue are white.

 

Stephens and others angrily alleged that Davis brought “racial politics” into the committee hearing, and they demanded that House leaders review transcripts from the hearing and admonish her if the transcripts show what Stephens called “openly racial slurs” by Davis.

 

Stephens claimed that Davis admonished downstate lawmakers for wanting to imprison “‘blacks from Chicago.”‘ Davis countered that she made absolutely no reference to race in the hearing.

 

A Post-Dispatch review of an audiotape from the committee hearing found that neither account is entirely accurate.

 

Davis didn’t reference the imprisonment of “blacks from Chicago,” according to the recording. She did mention race, however, saying: “African-Americans down here” meaning, in the Legislature “have got to fight harder” against what she alleged were downstate efforts to encourage inmate recidivism.

 

A spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said there would be a review of the transcript from the hearing.

 

The bill that sparked the debate seeks to provide low-interest loans to ex-inmates so they can start businesses, funding the program with a new $15 monthly fee assessed on all paroled inmates. The program wouldn’t use tax money. The bill passed the committee on a 6-5 vote, and now goes to the full House.

 

The bill is HB2746.

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Hossua Member

Hossua

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As much as I would like to think the prisoners would do good things for a community after incarceration. My gut tells me their "busines loan" would fund a new meth lab.

You are probably right unfortunately. But until they do that they don't deserve to go back to prison. If you can't make ends meet legitimately, you are gonna go right back to crime.

It's a vicious cycle, once you are on the books you are screwed pretty much. I understand the reasoning behind all this, but it doesn't make much sense to me.

I wonder what would happen if when criminals get out of jail they are considered "free" men once again. I would think parole would have to go bye bye for that to happen. I don't know how good an idea that would be for violent criminals, but for non-violent offenders I wonder.

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BobbyT Member

BobbyT

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I wouldn't have a problem charging current inmates to subsidize loans for those who've been released...so long as they've been out without criminal involvement for X amount of time. But then again, prisoners should have to earn their keep anyway. Guess that's a different issue.

 

The race politics really takes the cake...how absurd is the idea that those mean ol' downstaters are so racist they'd rather bring blacks from Chicago all the way down state to where they live instead of leaving them a couple hundred miles away?

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drdoom Member

drdoom

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It's Monique Davi's fault for lying to her own district about 'effective' ways to reduce crime. If I were Mayor of Chicago, I'd have citizen Militias patrol the streets, open carrying whatever gun they wanted giving them shoot to kill orders if they encountered gangs. Maybe every city besides Chicago should secede and become part of Kentucky and Wisconsin.
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Mac Member

Mac

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Hey, I would be all for that. Make a new city in Lake Michigan, and have Chicago's government go out there and govern. Turn Chicago back to the people that can run a city without raping the rest of the state. I truly hate it that there are so many good people that live in the Northeastern corner of the state yet they are governed by the biggest idiots in the world. Daley needs to get a clue as to what he is doing and tell the citizens to take control of their own neighborhoods. The Cops can't or won't do it, the citizens are the only chance of getting the streets safe again.

 

 

Mac

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junglebob Member

junglebob

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Well as long as they are paying for it and not the tax payer,why not?

I think the taxpayer would probably end up paying for it anyway. How do you collect from paroled exconvicts if they don't have a job? Administration of the program of course would take about 80% of the money collected, so they would have to go to the legislature for a subsidy.

 

Getting those who have served their time to start legitamate businesses would be good if they had changed their ways. My pastor likes to point out that their were no prisons in the Bible, if you stole from someone you made restitution. Exodus 22:1-3 gives some examples "If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. If a thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so he dies, their shall be no guilt for his bloodshed. If the sun has risen on him, their shall be guilt for his bloodshed. He shall make full restitution, if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the theft is certainly found alive in his hand, whether an ox, or donkey, or sheep, he shall restore double.

 

Biblical restoration from the thief was 2 to 5 times what was stolen. You see warrant for "castle doctrine" in the passage as well. You got your property back and then some, you weren't taxed to keep him in prison. Of course some crimes were capital offenses, something we don't have in Illinois now. The thief if he couldn't pay was sold and he worked off the debt for someone. They do still have chain gangs some places don't they?

 

A former church of mine had a computer stolen when someone burglarized the church. They recovered the computer but it was kept for evidence and never returned.

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Ashdump Member

Ashdump

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Well as long as they are paying for it and not the tax payer,why not?

.

 

My pastor likes to point out that their were no prisons in the Bible

 

I think I get the gist of what your minister is saying, but there were indeed prisons mentioned in the Bible, most notably in the New Testament. However, prisons at that time were used largely for persecution rather than prosecution. Having said that, even if you are not a Christian, IMHO, the Bible is an excelent source of wisdom and example of how societies should be! Lots of good stuff there! :thumbsup: (The Founders knew this too)

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GWBH Member

GWBH

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Actually it's right on...

There is a severe shortage of attorneys in S. Illinois. The plan is to fill the prisons to capacity, keeping them open so more criminals can get their law degree at OUR expense. This will re-staff all the counties down South with credible attorneys so more maniacs can get deferred or dismissed sentences... It's the heart of Daley's new "rehabilitation" program.

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TTIN Member

TTIN

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If our state was run like things were in the Bible..how would we justify a massive waste of money on administration like everything in Hellinois?

 

Well I don't know about justifing things but as far as punishment is concerned,stoning comes to mind.

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drdoom Member

drdoom

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The more society discourages personal belief, like praying silently at school for instance, the more violent society becomes. If one has nothing to believe in (be it atheism, Islam or Christianity) life becomes meaningless if one has nothing to believe in. This whole separation of Church of state argument liberals have is really an argument to abolish ALL beliefs from society.
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mikew Member

mikew

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[snip]

This whole separation of Church of state argument liberals have is really an argument to abolish ALL beliefs from society.

When I was kid, I had someone else's religious holidays shoved down my throat, in public school.

Nice to feel like an outsider in your own country, when you're a child, no less. NOT.

 

God speed the separation of Church and State.

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Chris Member

Chris

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Posted
[snip]

This whole separation of Church of state argument liberals have is really an argument to abolish ALL beliefs from society.

When I was kid, I had someone else's religious holidays shoved down my throat, in public school.

Nice to feel like an outsider in your own country, when you're a child, no less. NOT.

 

God speed the separation of Church and State.

 

Something funny that happened to me when I was in college was, I went to a Catholic college but a professor that I had a lot of classes with was Jewish so I'd get all the Jewish holidays off too because he would be at temple.

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Ashdump Member

Ashdump

Posted
Posted
[snip]

This whole separation of Church of state argument liberals have is really an argument to abolish ALL beliefs from society.

When I was kid, I had someone else's religious holidays shoved down my throat, in public school.

Nice to feel like an outsider in your own country, when you're a child, no less. NOT.

 

God speed the separation of Church and State.

 

Sorry, Mike W. There's no such thing. This whole thing refers to a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to a baptist convention. It basically states that the govt. has no business in the church.

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Len S Member

Len S

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Well Coach it was about some Chicago crat blaming the good people of southern Il for the ill behavior of her voters in order to keep prisons full. I would imagine she means GUNS. But since you cant have guns in the city I really do not know what she is talking about except for spewing forth a hate filled racist rant. If southern Il were to blame her constitutients for the sad state of the second amendment in Il then southern Il would be called red necked racists so I guess it should fit on her also. The more that the S--tcago pols keep spewing this hate filled and S--Tcgocentric rhetoric the bigger the divide between the SH-ty and the rest of the state will become. I look forward to the day when Soddom on the lake is isolated in the state legislature.

 

 

 

Len

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